Eva shared a glance with Arachne. Despite the mask, she felt the demon was very desperately trying to hold in laughter.
Eva shook her head and concentrated. She pictured a boulder of flame and rock being catapulted against a castle wall. With that image in mind, Eva lobbed another fireball.
The ball slammed into the shoulder of one of the zombies. If the golf ball sized orb did more than singe the flesh, Eva couldn’t tell in the dim light of the street lamps.
Eva sighed.
The zombie she struck turned around and started shambling towards her. Eva wasn’t worried. They were slow and uncoordinated. The only real danger was them sneaking up and with Arachne at her side, Eva doubted that was possible.
Arachne stuck nearby rather than jumping into the fray. It had been several groups of zombies since she decided sticking by Eva’s side was more important than wanton slaughter. Heartwarming in a way, and here it gave Eva a chance to practice.
She tossed another few fireballs without doing much damage. The other zombies had been attracted by the light. Eva just calmly walked backwards with Arachne at her side.
Zoe Baxter had used a gust of wind to completely remove a zombie’s head. Eva tried the same thing. Sneezing might have done more.
“You’re just not cut out for ‘proper’ magics.”
Eva was sure there was laughter in the demon’s voice. “It is my second month of schooling. I’m sure I’ll get better.”
“May I?” Arachne asked with a gesture towards the approaching zombies.
Eva just nodded her head and stopped walking backwards.
Arachne took a look around before calmly walking forwards and decapitating each one with a swipe of her hands. She did so quickly and without needless gore as she had done with some of the earlier groups. Arachne walked back to Eva’s side.
With the zombies dead, Eva slumped her shoulders and sighed. Maybe her lack of ability was exhaustion. No, not maybe. Definitely.
A nap sounded amazing at the moment. Curling up under some warm blankets with Arachne huddled around her had never sounded better. Alas it was not to be.
A thunder crack put Eva on full alertness. She turned at the noise. A horde of corpses streamed into the street from an alley. They less shambled and more ran.
A similar crack shook the street somewhere behind Eva. Another horde materialized out of thin air.
“These aren’t zombies,” Eva said.
They were more like skeletons that had been shoved into the fresh meat section of a grocery store. Flesh and skin hung off the bones. None of the bones seemed to be from the same creature either. Not a one looked human without heavily squinting your eyes.
They shambled and twisted until Eva was backed against the wall of a building. Arachne kept a few paces in front, flinging any that got too close down the street.
“We need to get out of here,” Arachne said.
Eva couldn’t agree more. She was about ready to step away when the flesh golems stopped. They left about a ten foot ring around her and just stood, staring.
Arachne growled, flexing her claws but not moving forward. She started pacing in front of Eva.
“Well,” a voice above Eva echoed down into the street, “what do we have here?”
Two men stood on a roof looking down at Eva and Arachne. Two spectral hounds flanked them, both barking and growling at the two in the street.
“Two party goers lost out on All Hallow’s Eve,” the skinny one said.
Eva narrowed her eyes. She didn’t doubt for a moment who these two were.
Arachne kept moving around Eva as if expecting one of the flesh golems to lunge at any moment.
“The dogs are saying she was the one at the crypt.”
“She’s the one,” a voice shrieked out. Stephen Toomey stumbled forward past the two men. He collapsed on his knees and pointed the only finger left on his hand at Eva. “I swear. I sold it to the little girl.”
“Oh?” The bulky man stepped to the edge of the roof and looked down. “I have doubts about that pathetic display of fireworks. There were a good hundred skeletons taken out. The dogs might be wrong, or it might be the other woman. If you’re sure you sold the book to her…”
“It’s her. Now please, let me go. I just–”
The blond man clapped Toomey on the back with a friendly smile. “Looks like we won’t be needing to visit the dorms after all.” He stood up, dragging Toomey to his feet by the shirt. “Selling out a schoolgirl in an attempt to save your own life?” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “Disgusting.”
He gave just a light push.
Toomey tumbled off the edge of the roof. He let out a short cry before he was silenced. A sickening crunch spread through the air.
“A vain attempt,” the skinny man said with a wide smile.
“Thank you for caring for our tome, but we’ll be taking the book back.”
The flesh golems shuffled back and forth, eager to advance. If they attacked, things could get bad. The spectral dogs would make running more difficult.
